Okta & Zscaler boost zero trust security with new tools

Okta and Zscaler have announced the introduction of four new integrations aimed at enhancing zero trust security for their clients.

These integrations bring end-to-end, context-aware security to mutual customers, aiming to reduce risk, enhance user experience, and enable cross-domain response through shared telemetry and threat intelligence. As organisations face the complex task of securing a growing number of remote users, cloud applications, and hybrid IT environments, Zscaler and Okta commit to delivering deep integrations for secure access to applications while minimising user disruptions.

Amit Raikar, Vice President of Technology Alliances and Business Development at Zscaler, stated, "The integrations announced today significantly deepen our collaboration with Okta and our commitment to keeping our customers secure. Together, we are focused on helping customers strengthen their zero trust security posture in an increasingly complex risk environment, where rigorously managing user identities and enforcing adaptive access controls is more crucial than ever."

Stephen Lee, Vice President of Technical Strategy and Partnerships at Okta, added, "In the AI era, the only way to effectively protect customers is by rallying the security ecosystem. Point security solutions address individual areas but don't integrate with one another, which increases complexity. That's why Okta and Zscaler have invested in deep integrations that accelerate the zero trust journey and elevate the security posture of our mutual customers worldwide."

Among the new offerings, the Adaptive Access Policy Enforcement integrates Zscaler with Okta to allow organisations to enforce context-based access policies that adapt based on changing user risk contexts, including password expiration and high-risk behaviours. This builds on an earlier integration where Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI ingested risk telemetry from Zscaler to address credential compromises or insider attacks. The bidirectional exchange of risk telemetry improves threat detection and response.

The Dynamic Step-Up Authentication feature allows Zscaler's Adaptive Access to trigger enhanced authentication requirements in the Okta Workforce Identity Cloud when it detects unusually risky user behaviour. This extra security layer requires users to use stronger authentication before accessing sensitive resources.

Security Data Contextualization and Unified Vulnerability Management is another integration that provides real-time insights into vulnerabilities and exposures by enriching Okta logs with concurrent data streams through Zscaler's Data Fabric for Security.

The Zero Trust Partner Access offering features Zscaler's Zero Trust Exchange cloud security platform, allowing secure, agentless access to web applications. With the assistance of native cloud browser isolation, it provides external third-party users with instant access to corporate resources while protecting applications from data loss. Okta supports this by facilitating streamlined identity and access management through Okta Universal Directory.